basic questions - connecting electric guitar and bass to sound system
 

How do you connect an electric guitar and bass guitar to a church sound system? I am an acoustic player using a baggs m-1 to PADI to balanced XLR. I have never connected an electric guitar to our PA system. One son has an electric guitar with a DigiTech bad monkey pedal. He only has a practice amp. What do I need to connect to the PA?

The other son has a bass guitar and practice amp. What do I need for him to connect to a sound system? I think we have XLR connections on the stage. Does he need a separate bass amp instead?

Thanks for your help. I am totally new to this as you can tell.

saul

You'll no doubt get a lot of advice from all over on this, but for bass you can go direct with a DI box to your xlr's if your system will handle it, or (my choice) use a small bass amp that has an XLR out. As far as the electric guitar goes, if you like the sound of the practice amp I'd just mic it (Shure 57 or ?).

Only about a zillion ways to do it and I'm sure someone else will chime in . . . .

They are both tiny practice amps that came withthe beginner sets. How can I tell if my system can handle the bass going to direct box and then to xlr?

saul

You'll know pretty quick by the sound. Start out at low power/volume because depending on if your speakers can handle it you could conceivably do damage. Then, as you turn up the power you can also "overdrive" the amp with a bass signal to where it will distort. Not recommended for the life of your PA if it isn't a pretty stout system.

any other advice???